A detailed look at the game of Dungeons & Dragons and all things related

Monday, June 23, 2014

5 Boxed Sets That Deserve 5th Edition Makeovers

Back in the late eighties and
early nineties, TSR decided to get back to its roots and began to release 2nd
Edition material in boxed sets. In my opinion, these sets were top notch and
provided exactly what most DMs needed: playgrounds. They provided just enough
information to get an adventure or a campaign started and left more than enough
blank spaces for the DM to fill in with their own ideas and material. There was
usually a fully developed pre-fab adventure to introduce the PCs to the
location/setting and then the box was jammed full of extra goodies like NPC
pre-gens, very high quality maps, and monster manual supplements. Aside from my
core books, these boxed sets were the most used materials in my library by a
very wide margin.

So what happened to them? Well
the simple answer is Wizards took over TSR in 1997 and released 3rd
Edition in 2000. As the new edition came in, the old boxed sets went out. This
was more than likely done to cut costs as the profit margin on a 100 page
hardcover book retailing for $40 is quite higher than a boxed set with three
booklets, four maps, and supplemental material retailing for $50.

And that’s not to say that I feel
Wizards were being cheap. They were only trying to get the brand back to profit
as TSR was on the brink of bankruptcy before they were bought out. I do feel
however that they may have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. (love that
expression for some reason)

So now with 5th
Edition on the horizon and the “Starter Set” being released as a boxed set, I
think Wizards has an excellent opportunity to revisit the concept of releasing
boxed sets on a regular basis. Thus, to give them a friendly nudge in the right
direction, what follows are five previously released boxed sets that I feel
could use a 5th Edition makeover:

1) The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting

Both Chris Perkins and Mike Mearls have gone
on record as saying that the Forgotten Realms will be the flagship campaign
setting for 5th Edition. If this is so, then I feel that a boxed set
is not only recommended, it should be mandatory. In 4th Edition, all
we got was a player’s book, a DM’s book, and one map. Does that sound like a
flagship to you? More like a row-boat!

Instead, I would publish a new
Forgotten Realms Boxed Set as follows:

-One large fold-out map to cover
the whole realm as well as several smaller (say 11”x18”) maps for critical
places like the Sword Coast, The Sea of Fallen Stars, and The Far North.

-Then I would publish three books
as follows: A book on the countries, territories and larger cities (Waterdeep,
Bauldur’s Gate, Calimport, etc.); A book on the history of the realms including
a who’s who for NPCs and factions/guilds; and finally a book for the DM’s eyes
only outlining the many dungeons, ruins, and dangerous places a PC can stick
their nose into. Now that sounds more like a flagship to me!

2) The Dark Sun Campaign Setting

Dark Sun was the late arrival to the lineup
of D&D worlds in 2nd Edition and I guess the designers were
aiming for something a bit more brutal than the others. If so, they succeeded!
In a world with little water, almost no metal, scarce magic, few cities, no
gods, and almost everything designed to wear you down, hope can be a difficult
thing to find.

I found it very unique and
refreshing that just surviving Dark Sun can be a quest in itself. Unlike the
Realms or Dragon Lance, there is little room for gallantry and glory when all
you’re trying to do is find the next water spring before the horde of
half-giants find you.

That being said, such a unique
campaign setting deserves better than just a book. Again, it would be nice to
see some world maps and a city map of Tyr. Also some booklets on the races and
factions of Athas would be nice. What are the Thri-kreen really like? Why do
the Halflings eat people? What does it mean to be a Mul? Do the slaves of the
arena have their own culture? Who is the sorcerer-king and who are the people
that make up his inner circle?

3) The Ruins of Undermountain

Out of all of the dungeons ever released
under the D&D brand, the Ruins of Undermountain were the largest, most
insidious, and most frustrating. Tackling these halls were almost a campaign by
itself as a group of players could get lost down in the ruins for game time
weeks and real time days. It was also home to the infamous Skullport and
boasted more than nine levels of dungeon crawl madness.

If one simply takes the time to
google The Ruins of Undermountain and takes a look at the “images” section, one
will quickly realize the mind-boggling scope of the place based on the maps. It
is, in my opinion, a testament to the amazing depth of Ed Greenwood and a
wonderful place to send your players if they’ve been bragging about how good
they are at clearing dungeons. Good luck suckers!

A re-release for 5th
Edition would be an excellent opportunity to update and make small adjustments
to something that already works well. Also, since Ed Greenwood is back as a key
developer for 5th Edition, I’m sure he would love the opportunity to
revise this old love.

4) The City of Splendors

As far as the Forgotten Realms go, Waterdeep
is THE city. You can visit many others, but nowhere else can you find the
perfect mix of opulence, danger, intrigue, debauchery, gallantry, heroics, and
death. It’s sort of like smashing the whole of Game of Thrones inside of a
single sprawling city. And to paraphrase some famous words, “I don’t always do
city campaigns, but when I do, I set them in Waterdeep.”

Recently, the board game Lords of Waterdeep and its expansions
have been a huge seller for Wizards. Why not have a nice box set update for 5th
Edition that will better reflect the quests and intrigues players have come to
know from that game? Add in a whole new book on the factions and the lords
themselves and you’ve got pure roleplaying gold!

Personally, I feel that the old
maps/paintings of Waterdeep were among some of the best ever published under
the D&D brand. Keep that bar set high with some new maps and fresh artwork
regarding the city as a whole and some specific areas/buildings of the city we
have yet to see.

5) Menzoberranzan

And I’ve saved my personal
favorite for last. The Menzoberranzan boxed set was, in my opinion, the perfect
mix of maps, information, and plenty of open-ended plotlines and adventure
hooks to keep a DM and a group of adventurers busy for months. It was also one
of the few campaigns where I encouraged my players to be evil and indulge in
their darker sides.

So now that R.A. Salvatore is
onboard as one of the principle voices for 5th Edition, it makes
perfect sense to me that Menzo needs an overhaul/update. Many important events
have happened in Salvatore’s City of the Drow (see the Forgotten Realms novels)
since this set was first published and I would love to see it all get brought
up to speed with the new arrangements of houses and the growing displeasure
with Lloth growing among the population. I’m sure that over the past 20 years, the popularity and
cult following of this boxed set has only grown and today it would make for a
huge seller.